The latest figures on aged care spending and waiting lists have reignited the war of numbers between federal Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt and Opposition Ageing spokespeople Julie Collins and Senator Helen Polley. The data in the Report on Government Services, released by the Productivity Commission on Tuesday, shows that government spending on the elderly rose to $18.4 billion in 2017-18. That compares with $17.56 billion the year before. However the Opposition’s Senator Helen Polley said the report confirmed the ‘disastrous impact’ of the government’s $1.2 billion cut in spending. “Wait times for home care packages have blown out by more than two months. “There is a black and white funding cut per person for older Australians living in residential aged care. “The figures in the report should serve as a sharp reminder that you don’t fix aged care by cutting it.” Labor MP Julie Collins pointed to the expanding waiting lists for the elderly. “The waiting list for home care has grown to 127,000 older Australians, with many waiting more than a year to receive the care they have been approved for.” There were 104,602 on the waiting list in December 2017. “This report underscores exactly why a Commission was needed in the first place,” she said. But Minister Wyatt said average payments for person in residential care had risen from $53,100 a year in 2012-13 to $65,600 in 2017-18. “Labor has already been caught out twice on their funding fibs, with independent experts confirming constant, significant increases in aged care spending.” Spending in Tasmania on aged care services has risen from $352 million in 2012-13 to $477 million in 2017-18.

DEFENDING THE SPENDING: Federal Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt says Labor's claims that there have been spending cuts in aged care are 'fibs' and the facts have been checked indepednently. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen

The latest figures on aged care spending and waiting lists have reignited the war of numbers between federal Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt and Opposition Ageing spokespeople Julie Collins and Senator Helen Polley.

The data in the Report on Government Services, released by the Productivity Commission on Tuesday, shows that government spending on the elderly rose to $18.4 billion in 2017-18.